


A Slithering Santa

by NightiOwl



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Christmas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-25
Updated: 2014-12-25
Packaged: 2018-03-03 09:02:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2845445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightiOwl/pseuds/NightiOwl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Little Harry gets some unexpected joy on Christmas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Slithering Santa

It's a tired Harry that wakes up the morning of Christmas morning to clean the kitchen floors before Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon awake and come downstairs to have their special ham and cheddar sandwiches for breakfast with Dudley, like they do every year. Harry's five now, so he knows what he's supposed to do in the morning.

Harry's eyes are blurry with the remains of fatigue and he rubs at them repeatedly. He needs to be able to see when he's cleaning so he can make sure that no speck of dirt is left for Aunt Petunia to punish him for. His glasses are askew on his face due to Dudley breaking them yesterday when he decided to give Harry an early Christmas gift. If Harry hadn't climbed the tree in the back yard, he knows he would be feeling a lot worse than he does now.

Pulling up his over-sized sleeves to his elbows, Harry grabs a few rags from the closet in the hallway and runs some warm water over them in the sink. He's good at cleaning, he thinks, but Aunt Petunia always tells him that he's doing it wrong which is why he tries to get it done before she can come downstairs to criticize him. The floor is crusted with dried mud from Dudley's shoes. Yesterday, he went out to play in the snow and tracked the wet mess through the house without a care in the world. 

So Harry adds some extra soap to his rag, setting the others aside for now, and goes about scrubbing and rinsing until that particular spot of the floor is sparkly clean. Smiling to himself, he rubs an arm across his forehead and slowly begins working his way around the room, scrubbing under chairs and around counters. He relocates a spider who has made a home under the sink and wipes that away, too.

For a long time, Harry works on cleaning the kitchen, not thinking about anything, really. just hoping he can get it done in time. He has to switch out the rags a lot. Then he sets about moving a chair around the room so he can reach the tops of the counters and the side of fridge. He wipes the inside and the top of the stove and washes some of the dishes that have been left in the sink from the night before.

Finally, around seven fifty in the morning, the kitchen is as clean as Harry thinks it can possibly get.

He washes his hands and puts the chair back where it belongs before he sneaks a cookie from the plate on the counter and takes it into the living room to eat, taking care not to leave a single crumb amiss. The tree is beautiful and glowing with fairy lights of all different colors. The ornaments sparkly brightly under their influence. Beneath the large green tree is a startling number of presents stacked atop one another and pushed close together so that they all fit. There's big ones and small ones and a one really long one that sticks out the side.

Harry frowns and looks away. None of those presents are for him. Not even the tiniest one in the overbearing pile will be wasted on Harry. Most, if not all, of them are for Dudley. His big, fat cousin will get lots of new toys and games and books that he'll never read. But Harry will get nothing.

Sighing sadly, Harry goes back to the closet under the stairs and shuts the door quietly. Inside he lies down and stares into the darkness above him, doing his best to hold in the tears that so desperately want to come. His eyes are hot and prickly and his breath comes jaggedly but he keeps the tears at bay as best he can.

Because there's movement upstairs and from the sound of the big, heavy footsteps, he knows it's a grumpy and tired Uncle Vernon coming down. Absently grumbling to himself as he passes Harry's door, he goes into kitchen, no doubt for a cup of coffee.  

Harry is careful to be quiet. He doesn't want them to notice him today. He doesn't want to clean anymore nor does he want to try to cook something because he's just to small to cook, even though he kind of knows how.

☽~~~☾

Eventually, everyone in the house is awake and Harry remains in the cupboard for the majority of their special breakfast, trying not to think about the delicious smell of food or the fact that a lot of it is probably being dropped all over the once clean floors. His Aunt's cooking is really good. He knows because he's sneaked a number of leftovers from the fridge before and the sweets are always good, too. 

He starts violently when a resounding "boy!" bellows from the kitchen. Quickly he shuffles his way out of the closet and into the room where Dudley is gladly digging through his third sandwich.

"Yes, Uncle Vernon?" He asks, as if he doesn't already know what his Uncle is going to say.

The plump mans turns to him, still chewing on a bite of sandwich, and points to the floor where, sure enough, lies drops of melted cheddar and breadcrumbs. "Clean it up when we're finished." He tells Harry, turning back to his food.

Harry waits by the kitchen door while they eat, keeping his eyes down so he won't see the food. His stomach is already bothering him with hunger. Yesterday, Petunia gave him some soup that was a couple days from expiring and ever since, his body has been greedy about wanting food. 

When they've all scarfed down as much as they can eat. Harry makes for the rags again.  "And don't forget the dishes!"

Once the kitchen is clean and the dishes are put away, again, Harry is exhausted. The couch in the living room looks so very inviting but he knows better than that and instead goes back to his cupboard while his Aunt and Uncle gather around the tree with Dudley to begin the morning celebrations. 

Harry listen idly, but not any more than that. He plays with some of the beat up action figures that Dudley no longer likes; the sound of tearing paper and laughing is loud from outside the door. He can hear the sounds of some of the newer electronic toys that Dudley gets. The roar of a dinosaur and beep-booping of some robotic thing. 

Harry isn't the least bit jealous of those things. Not one bit. Dudley might find them to be super exciting and fun, as well as the rest of the children on the planet, but not Harry, surely. While Harry does wish that he could have a normal family with parents that loved him and spoiled him with love and fun all the time, he's not sure what he'd ask for if there was a chance that he could get a gift, too. 

He frowns, thinking about it. He's always liked reading but there's hardly ever enough light in his closet to do so. He supposes he doesn't really know what fun things are like so that must be why he can't think of anything he'd like to receive. 

Feeling rather put out and confused, Harry inches the door open and slips out, no one the wiser. 

He goes outside in the backyard, where everything is white with a fresh blanket of snow and smiles at the sky. It's freezing but he doesn't mind. He throws the snow up into the air and watches it fall gently down again and he runs, as much as a person can run in deep snow, until his legs are numb with cold. He can almost find it in himself to laugh and have some fun for once.

So he does. He rolls big balls of snow and makes what he hopes looks like a snowman even though he doesn't have a nose and he rolls around on the ground beside his new friend, wishing he were real.

When he's out of breath and chilled beyond belief, he brushes the snow away from his clothes and starts to head for the door. Something moves out of the corner of his eye and he stops, titling his head in curiosity.

He can't believe what he's seeing.

A small green snake is slithering across the snow towards him, flicking it's tongue in the air and leaving a winding trail behind it. It's as thick as Harry's arm and it's long. 

But the weirdest part of all this is that the snake is wearing a small, red Santa hat on top of it's tiny head and there's a small bag travelling alongside the snake, the string having been wrapped around it's body somehow. 

Harry blinks but the bizarre image does not go away. He walks up to the snake where it stops at the edge of Aunt Petunia's frozen garden and gets does to his knees.

"Greetings, little one." The snake says, flicking it's tongue in Harry's direction, the hat flopping to the side but managing to stay on it's head.

Harry has never heard a snake talk before. In fact, Harry doesn't think he's ever seen a snake before now. But he's read about them and he's pretty sure it's breaking a major rule about being cold blooded.

"H-hi..." Harry says uncertainly after a minute. "Aren't you cold. Snakes aren't supposed to be outside in the winter. You'll freeze." Harry tells it, feeling a bit ridiculous. 

The snake doesn't seem concerned in the least. "Have just eaten," it turns it's head an indicates a lump in the middle of it's body. Harry mentally winces, "will be warm for a little while."

Harry nods, not really knowing what to say to that. He's glad that the snake will be okay but not so much for the animal that has become a meal. He points to the hat on the snake, "Where did you get that? Snakes don't celebrate Christmas, do they?" Harry doesn't think they do; he's never heard of any animals celebrating holidays.

The tongues flicks out again, "It is not tradition to where red and white hat on the human's holiday? I assumed it wasss." The snake seemed to make a movement like it was shaking it's head. Harry giggled. "Have brought a gift." the snake announced proudly, shimmying itself out of the string of the bag. 

Harry blinks again when the snake nudges the bag towards him, "For me?" Harry blurts incredulously, pointing as his own chest in astonishment. Why would a snake bring him a gift? 

"Little one is always outside, alone with no friendsss to accompany him. Feel bad for you so I have brought you a gift to have on your strange human holiday of red hats and bags." The snake is slithering around the bag, apparently thinking it's very clever and smart. 

Harry feels the biggest smile appear on his face as he watches the snake wind around excitedly. Of all the things in the world, a snake, out in the middle of winter when it really shouldn't be, is bringing him a gift. A bubble of laughter escapes him and he reaches for the bag, gingerly picking it up, feeling the weight of it and wondering how on earth the snake got anything into the bag and managed to pull it closed itself.

The snake has stopped moving around and is now watching Harry curiously, tongue flicking in the air. 

With nimbly numb fingers, Harry opens the bag and is surprised to find several pieces of chocolates and candies inside, all of them gleaming with metallic red, green and blue wrappers. He is delighted and he can't wait to try them. He's never had candy to himself before. 

"Thank you." Harry breathes, picking a green one out. He's just about the open it up when something strikes him.

"Where did you get these?" It's a snake, a very nice snake at that, but there's no way it went into a store and bought candy for Harry. 

The snake flicks it's tongue at the snow, tasting it, and immediately recoils. "There are some humans with lots of those not far from here. I think they do not need that much sugary sweets." Harry's mouth falls open. The snake stole candy. "The bag was convenient. Right beside the window." It continued, curling in on itself a bit, presumably to warm up a little. It's hat resting awkwardly on it's head. Harry fixes it.

The shock that the snake went through so much effort to get him something is over weighed by his gratitude and he gives the snake a teary smile, unwrapping the chocolate and enjoying the blissfully smooth, sweet taste of it.

He saves the others for later and holds out his hand, willing the snake to come forward. It does and Harry holds it close to his chest for a minute, hoping that he has enough body heat to share with the small creature. 

The back door opens suddenly, causing Harry to flinch and he hurriedly hides the snake from the view of his Aunt who spots him by the edge of garden and glares at him. "Harry, get back in here, you stupid brat. You'll die of the cold." With that, she slams the door.

It's dark outside now and Harry thinks the only reason he hasn't noticed the temperature dropping is because he's already numb all over. Reluctantly, he lets the snake, now a bit warmer, slide out of his arms and onto the snow. 

"Will you be alright?" He asks it quietly, petting the top of it's head gently with one fingertip. 

The snake makes a sound that can only be scoffing. "Made it out here by myself, didn't I?" it gloats, twisting assuredly. "Will be fine. Am glad you enjoyed your gift."

Harry laughs, his cheeks sore from smiles and the cold. "I did. Thank you so much. Happy Christmas..." He gets up, brushing the snow from his knees and then hesitates. "Um, will I ever see you again."

The snake is slithering towards the patch of trees is came from earlier,  flicking it's tongue along the ground. "Will be seeing lots. Good night, little one." 

It disappears into the trees and Harry smiles sadly to see his friend go but hurriedly goes back inside, fearing he might actually get sick from being out so long without a coat. 

Back in his cupboard, he listens to the sounds of Dudley's new toys and peels the wrapper of another chocolate away. 

As he chews the soft sweet, he thinks that he's never had a better day or a better Christmas and that he doesn't need elaborate gifts to be happy. 

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Holidays!
> 
> The snake is inspired by another story.^^


End file.
